Sport

GWS Giants great little hook up with Canberra

A spectacular afternoon at the GWS Giants v Port Adelaide game at Manuka Oval in April.

The Giants are coming to Canberra today to take on Melbourne. It should be a good game of footy and it would be great to see the Canberra crowd get out in support of the affair.

The affair? Yes, the affair that the Giants are having with Canberra. It is a great little hook up that keeps GWS telling Western Sydney a few times a year that, “they have to go away for business”. Goodbye the western suburbs of Sydney. Hello Canberra!

The western suburbs of Sydney could never really have expected the Giants to be monogamous. There’s 2 million people in Greater Western Sydney, yet they get trumped in crowd numbers by what Canberra rustles up with its population of 390,000. We’re a good sort.

Of course, to get them to play home games here, we had to show that we were going to put out. Part of the deal back around 2010 was that we had to pull together 5,000 members to kick things off. The ACT Government then dressed us up all hot with an offer of $23 million over 10 years for games in Canberra. They even promised they would put in a tram. How very AFL. How could the Giants resist?

The answer is they couldn’t resist and even showed us some affection. I remember, as they were about to launch their first season, getting a phone call from Kevin Sheedy. He robo called. But at least he called.

You needed somebody sweet talking us through the first few seasons when they couldn’t kick a footy. Remember Israel Folau? Almost ruined the relationship.

They’ve got the goods now though, the Giants. They sit third on the ladder and are hopefully getting back some of the form that got them to the 2016 preliminary final. They lost that by just six points to the Western Bulldogs up at Homebush. Six months later they beat the premiers, the Bulldogs, at Manuka. What does that tell you? The Giants save their best for Canberra.

So if you follow the logic, get out and see some genuine superstars like Jonathan Patton, Callan Ward, Shane Mumford take down the Melbourne Demons. It is fun to be part of an affair.

If you are a fan of the rugby codes, cheat on the Brumbies and Raiders for a day. Those guys can’t keep expecting you to go back to their place. They play out at Bruce stadium. There’s nothing there. Where are you supposed to go for beers?

Come to the Giants at Manuka and there’s beers to be had at the Kingo before the game. And after too. You can actually have that footy tradition of having a pint with your mates before pulling on your jacket and scarf in club colours and walking to the ground. It’s a tribal thing that’s part of footy and the Giants are good for that at Manuka.

There it is, the pitch. Get on out to the game on Saturday and leave a little lipstick on the Giants before they head back to Western Sydney.

Two things stand out in your article namely money ($23 million over 10 years) and beers, pints before and after the game.

The much reviled ACT public art has more appeal.

I’m happy to pay your yearly $7.66 yearly contribution ($23M/300000(approx numbers voters)/10years) to have some decent AFL games in the ACT. Will you pay for things I don’t particularly like or use?

I haven’t been south of Woden for years so can I have a refund for any roads, parks, garbage collection or other infrastructure that is being placed down there? I personally get no benefit for it..so why should I pay?

If you are going to rationalise the waste of $23 million dollars you are going about it the wrong way.
How about acknowledging the fact that only 15,000 (usually less) people (.0375 of Canberra’s population) get a benefit out this taxpayer pump-primed non-resident team sport. You didn’t say how much your entry ticket cost (did you get one of the many free ones?) so if the “user pays” principle is used the start price for a ticket to every game should be $153.33 to achieve full 10 year cost recovery. Add the usual entry cost to this and who is going to turn up then?

You didn’t say where you live but wherever that is the fact that I live in Tuggers means I don’t get any benefit from the money spent on municipal services in your suburb either so that argument is neutral.

Two things stand out in your article namely money ($23 million over 10 years) and beers, pints before and after the game.

The much reviled ACT public art has more appeal.

I’m happy to pay your yearly $7.66 yearly contribution ($23M/300000(approx numbers voters)/10years) to have some decent AFL games in the ACT. Will you pay for things I don’t particularly like or use?

I haven’t been south of Woden for years so can I have a refund for any roads, parks, garbage collection or other infrastructure that is being placed down there? I personally get no benefit for it..so why should I pay?